Built to Order
Custom Saddles
Built around your horse's back and the way you ride. Handmade in Salina, Utah since 1876.
Why Custom
A saddle that fits isn't a luxury. It's the whole job.
A production saddle is built to a size chart. Your horse wasn't. When the tree doesn't match the back underneath it, you get the things riders blame on everything else. Sore backs, shortened stride, a horse that won't stand still to be saddled, a rider fighting for position every ride.
A custom Burns saddle starts with your horse. We measure the back, watch the horse move, and build the tree to fit what's actually in front of us. Then we build the saddle around you: seat size, rigging position, stirrup turn, and the tooling you'll be looking at for the next thirty years.
We've fit more than 10,000 horses doing it this way. Whether you ride barrels, rope, work a ranch, cut or ride trail, the build starts the same way, with the horse.
How It Works
How a Custom Burns Saddle Gets Built
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1. The Fitting
It starts with your horse, not a catalog. Bring the horse to Salina, or send measurements and photos and we'll walk you through it. We look at wither, shoulder, back length and how the horse moves. There's no charge for the conversation, and we'll tell you honestly if a stock saddle would serve you just as well.
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2. The Tree
Every Burns saddle begins with a hand-built wooden tree, rawhide-covered and shaped to the horse we just measured. Bar angle, gullet width and rock are chosen for your horse specifically.
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3. Your Build
Now we fit the rider. Seat size and rise, rigging position, stirrup length and turn, horn height, cantle, swell. Full-grain skirting leather is hand-selected for grain, weight and temper, then cut by hand for your saddle.
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4. Tooling & Silver
Floral patterns, basket stamps, borders, your brand or initials tooled by hand using techniques our craftsmen have used for generations. Sterling silver is hand-engraved in the same shop if you want it.
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5. Finish & Final Fit
Conchos set, seams hand-stitched, hardware hung, and one last fitting check before it leaves the bench. Every custom build carries our limited lifetime warranty and our perfect fit guarantee.
Custom Saddle Questions
Depending on the configuration, it can take up to 6-12 months to receive your finished saddle. Especially for saddles including exotic leather, obtaining the materials in an ethical process results in longer lead times.
Pricing depends on configurations and discipline, contact one of our saddle fitting reps to get a free fitting estimate and pricing for your custom saddle!
It's the best way, and it's why people trailer in to Salina. But it isn't the only way, send us measurements and photos and we can get you very close. If you're not sure how to measure, call the shop at (435) 529-7484 and we'll talk you through exactly what we need.
Tree and bar fit, seat size and rise, rigging position, swell and horn, cantle height, stirrup length and turn, leather weight and finish, tooling pattern, border, silver, conchos and hardware. If you have a saddle you already love, bring it! Matching what works is often the fastest route to a good build.
Yes. We build barrel, team roping, calf roping, ranch, cutting, reining, trail, versatility, steer wrestling, mounted shooting, western show and Wade saddles. Browse the saddle collections to see finished examples of each, then we'll build to your horse from there.
Horses change with age, work and condition, it's normal. Bring the saddle back and we'll reassess the fit. That's what the perfect fit guarantee is for, and it's a large part of why people buy from a maker rather than a catalog.
Every custom build carries our limited lifetime warranty on workmanship, plus our perfect fit guarantee. Details are on our workmanship guarantee and fit guarantee pages.
Built for Horse & Rider
Let's Build Your Saddle
Start with a conversation. Tell us about your horse and how you ride, and we'll tell you honestly what we'd build and what it would take.